November 7, 2013

This Boston Globe article reports on the latest sentencing filing in a very high-profile federal prosecution under the headline "Whitey Bulger has no redeeming qualities and should be sentenced to life, prosecutors say." Here is how the article begins:

Federal prosecutors said today that notorious gangster James “Whitey”Bulger “has no redeeming qualities” and should be sentenced next week to life in prison for killing 11 people while running a sprawling criminal enterprise.

“There are no mitigating factors, and defendant Bulger has no redeeming qualities, which would justify any sentence below the one called for by the US Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable case law and statutes,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed in federal court in Boston.

US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper will hear from the families of Bulger’s victims, defense lawyers, and prosecutors on Nov. 13 and sentence the gangster the following day. Bulger, 84, who did not take the stand during his eight-week trial last summer, will be offered an opportunity to speak before he is sentenced.

The government's six-page sentencing memorandum can be found at this link, and here is how it starts:

James “Whitey” Bulger is one of the most violent and despicable criminals in Boston history. Having now been convicted of thirty-one felonies, including RICO counts involving multiple murders, Bulger richly deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail.